After the Play
by Wallwalker
Summary: [Polyfic][Pre-game] Zidane, Ruby and Blank take a moment to relax after playing the evening's leads.


"Why does Lady Byrd always have t' choose?" Ruby mused, her voice buzzing in her chest as Zidane pillowed his head against her bosom. "That's not fair! She loved 'em both, didn't she?" Beside her Blank chuckled, and Zidane saw her move to rub his messy red hair.

The three of them were sprawled together on Zidane's bunk. Blank's bed was just above them, and of course Ruby had a room that she shared with a few of the stagehands, but that would've involved getting up, and getting up was too much effort. And then they wouldn't be in the same room anymore, anyway. At least here, in the room that Zidane and Blank had managed to finagle for themselves, they had something resembling privacy. They could rest in peace away from Marcus's wry commentary, which was usually amusing but would've been too much at the moment.

The three of them had never performed the leads together before; Zidane, for his part, had enjoyed it, but it had been tense. Ruby had played the disgraced noblewoman who had spoken out for her people and was thus forced to live as a peasant; Blank had portrayed her devoted and handsome husband who nonetheless had struggled to keep them in their modest home, and Zidane had played the dashing nobleman who had recognized Ruby as the beautiful woman who had stolen his heart and spoken out against her corrupt father. It was a love story, of course; Tantalus knew what people wanted to see, and what would distract them sufficiently while Marcus and Cinna were scouting out escape routes for their night's work.

The endings to their plays often depended on their audience. Today they had been hired to perform for a very rich and influential noble in Treno, and so Blank had ceded Ruby to her passionate noble lover, accepting her happiness and being given a sumptuous home on Zidane's lands for his kindness. If they had been playing to the poor folk of the city, they would ended it very differently - certainly in Blank's favor.

"Well," Zidane finally answered, after some thought, "come to think of it, the nobleman did give the peasant shopkeeper a home that was awfully near his manor. I wonder if he lets her visit him at night, when no one's watching?"

"Sounds good to me," Blank agreed. "These nobles do crazy things sometimes, for sure."

"Oh, that does sound better. Or maybe they invite him to dinner sometimes - I mean, after seeing how you two played off each other, I could believe there was a little bit more than just a rivalry between 'em. Marcus isn't usually so... well, so charming."

"Well, charm is what I do best, dear lady," Zidane answered, chuckling.

"Is that so?" Blank was rolling his eyes again; Zidane couldn't see it, but he could tell. "I thought it was corny pick-up lines."

That made Ruby laugh. Her chest rose and fell under Zidane's cheek, and her shift was warm and silky; she had washed off her makeup and taken off the fancy dress she'd worn at the end of the play, but she was still burning hot from acting under the bright lights. Zidane could sympathize; playing a Treno noble required a ridiculous amount of makeup, and the sheer weight of his costume had been exhausting. Blank's outfit had at least been easier, especially during the obligatory swordfight. (Fortunately, no one ever seemed to question why there was always a swordfight, or how a simple merchant had learned to fight as well as a nobleman. It was simply what was expected of them.)

Zidane squeezed her hand, and lifted his head enough to look directly at Blank's "Hey, Blank. I saw you talk to Marcus just after the play. Did he say anything about the manor?"

Blank nodded. "Yeah. Everything's going according to plan. He an' Cinna are gonna handle the heist later tonight - they had to bribe some guards, and Cinna's gonna have to knock part of a wall down. Nothing they can't handle."

"Okay, great," Zidane said, "because they are _not_ getting me outta this bed again tonight."

"Agreed, hon," Ruby said, squeezing his hand.

"We're all with you there, Zidane." He put his arm around Ruby, reaching enough to wrap his hand around Zidane's wrist. "I don't know about you two, though, but I'm gonna pass out. That last fight took a lot outta me."

"You always were a lightweight, Blank," Zidane teased, but his sudden yawn at the end gave him away.

"Hmph. I haveta convince Baku to let me fight sometime," Ruby mused. "See what it's like..."

"Yeah. We'll have to teach you later," Blank murmured.

They rested in silence after that, curled up close to each other, until they fell asleep.


End file.
